Anita McNaught

Anita McNaught (born 1965) is a United Kingdom/New Zealand dual nationality freelance journalist and television presenter, currently working for the Fox News Channel. She has worked as a reporter for CNN and on a freelance basis for Television New Zealand (TVNZ). As well as television, she has also contributed prominently to radio, as a regular contributor on Radio New Zealand; and in print journalism.

McNaught was born in London in 1965. She moved to New Zealand in 1985, where she worked for 12 years before returning to the United Kingdom in 1997.

Career

At the age of 22, McNaught began work as a reporter for TVNZ. She went on to become a popular presenter for a number of news and current affairs programmes. In 1995, she moved to the competitor channel in NZ - TV3 - where she worked as a reporter on the current affairs programme "20/20".

Upon her return to the United Kingdom in 1997, she joined the BBC as a freelance journalist, presenting on BBC World News: the corporation's international news channel where she remained until 2004. During her time in the country, she presented BBC Two's "Open Minds" arts and culture series in 1999 as well as Channel 4 television's miscarriage of justice series "Clear My Name" in 1998. Between 2000 and 2001, she also wrote features for The Times newspaper. Upon leaving BBC World, she continued to work on a freelance basis for other BBC departments, in one case working on BBC Radio 5 Live's "5 Live Report".

McNaught has covered events from the studio such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings of Winnie Mandela, and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. She anchored rolling coverage of the entry of UN forces into Kosovo and Baghdad.

McNaught was also founding board member of WIFT - Women in Film and Television - in New Zealand.

Olaf Wiig

Her ex-husband, Olaf Wiig, is a cameraman for Fox News. On August 14, 2006, he was taken hostage in the Gaza Strip along with fellow colleague Steve Centanni. Wiig and Centanni were released after 13 days in captivity, August 27, 2006, having appeared in a videotape saying - at gunpoint - that they had "embraced Islam with the Islamic prophet Muhammad as their leader". Upon release, Olaf and Steve were reunited with family and friends. Wiig and McNaught were then taken to New York City in Rupert Murdoch's (owner of News Corp, Fox's parent company) private jet and reunited with Wiig's New Zealand family members who had flown to New York.

External links

* [http://www.bbcworld.com/content/template_clickpage.asp?pageid=163 BBC World profile of Anita McNaught] For References and Sources
* [http://subs.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10414497 New Zealanders of the Year: Anita McNaught] , The New Zealand Herald — 9 December 2006
* [http://www.listener.co.nz/default,1650,1627,0.sm New Zealand Listener magazine interview with Anita McNaught] — 20 March 2004
* [http://www.kiwinews.co.nz/cgi-bin/editor/print.pl?article=4411 Anita McNaught interviews Robert Fisk]